Moderation Tools
There are a lot of external tools to utilize when moderating on or off a stream that can be very helpful to those who know what they are and how to use them. Here are a decent few programs, extensions, add-ons, and bots to help familiarize yourself with some of the helpful tools out there for moderating. Chatty https://chatty.github.io/ Chatty is a Twitch chat client that is external to the site (can be run as its own program), that lets you do many useful things even if you aren’t moderating. There is a list of features on the site, but big draws are the plethora of helpful moderation features. You can see more information about a viewer if they are causing problems to check how they had been recently to decide on if action is needed to be taken. On top of that, you can set it up so that when you put your mouse over chat, it won’t move and you won’t accidentally end up timing out the wrong person by clicking on someone else. Logviewer https://cbenni.com/ Logviewer is another third-party website that allows anyone to look up any users entire chat history in a stream that you moderate. While Twitch recently added the ability to see logs for users on their site, this tool still has some uses and has the potential to grow far more now that the creator doesn’t need to store every user’s logs. Better Twitch https://www.nightdev.com/betterttv/ Better Twitch (or BTTV) is an extension for browsers that gives more functionality to the chat window. This includes features helpful to mods like if your streamer allows links in chat and a user posts a link to an image, you can hover over the link to see what it is to moderate without leaving the page. This also works for all other links that are posted in chat. BTTV also has emotes embedded into it that cannot be seen if you don’t have the extension installed, which isn’t helpful for moderation, just something fun with it. FFZ https://www.frankerfacez.com/ FrankerFaceZ or FFZ is an extension for your browser just like BTTV is developed by Dan Salvato. This extension is a bit more on the fun side for users, but it also allows you to set up things like custom keyword highlighting. This is very useful if there are things your streamer does not want to talk about, that users may try to work around the auto mod to get a reaction for. For a weird example, say the streamer hates Mario, so the viewers try to talk about Wario or Luigi to get around the blocked terms, you can time that out before it bothers your streamer. Bots Bots are a very useful and important part of a stream’s healthy ecosystem. They help both the streamers and moderators focus on more important things, while they take care of smaller issues or important messages. These can include things like auto-posting messages on a timer or message post interval like the streamer’s schedule or social media. They can also timeout users and give them a reason if they are just doing something not super harmful like posting a link in chat if it’s set to not allow links. Bots can be configured by moderators and the streamer, both with their own API on a website or program as well as in chat with commands. The two main bots most streamers use which are the easiest to get started with that tend to be used are: * Moobot ** https://moo.bot/ ** Moobot is one of the most widely used and helpful bots out there. It allows for easy pickup and use functionality, but lacks any super customizability. (insert features). * Nightbot ** https://beta.nightbot.tv/ ** Nightbot is the other big bot used by many streamers and is very helpful like Moobot. It is also extremely easy to use but also offers customizability that can make your stream more organized for those who want to go in and learn it. Nightbot also has an external client that the streamer or mod can download to edit the bot, documentation can be found here: https://docs.nightbot.tv/app-beta ** Nightbot can also be synched with a Discord server to have commands work on both platforms as well. There are also many more bots out there that let you do a plethora of commands and include countless features to make the chat experience more enjoyable. Some bots include monetary systems that a user can acquire through means in the channel that they then can spend on on stream items such as song requests. Here is a good listing of different bots that have been compiled into a blog post on Medium. Discord https://discordapp.com/ Discord is basically if Skype and TeamSpeak had a baby and it grew up to do far better things than its parents. A streamer can link their account with their Discord and can allow users who are subbed to them on Twitch or YouTube access the server where you can talk whenever you want. Many smaller streamers will have open servers that anyone can join, but you can also add a role that users can get in the server for being subscribed to the streamer. With another way to chat (one that is 24/7) comes more need for moderators, and that would open up a whole new can of worms, but has the same basic principals. Discord requires moderators just the same as a stream does, but generally more mods are required on Discord. As chat can go at all times of any day, having a moderation team that is large enough to span mods that can cover most time zones of activity is very important to keep things under control. There can be a whole entire other document written on the needs of Discord moderators, but in the end, most tips and things to look out for are the same. Modch.at https://modch.at/ Modch.at (or Modchat) is a website that can basically replace your Twitch viewing with itself. It is an edited version of Twitch that allows you to basically customize your entire mod features, including the buttons that appear when you hover over a user. (get more info on this from people who’ve used it) Strawpoll https://www.strawpoll.me/ Strawpolls are a quick way to create a poll and post them in chat for viewers to vote on something for a stream. They only require the question, and answers and you can create a poll in 10 seconds to post in chat. This is helpful for streamers who want chat input for something in a game, or what to do next, and are something a mod can throw together while the streamer plays. Easy, simple, and helpful, what more do you need? Whispers Whispers are the little chat box icon to the left of the chat window on Twitch. You can search for any user in the search box in the top of the whispers tab to message someone, or click on a username in chat and go to whisper. * Taking care of personal items or questions. * Handling situations that may get out of hand in the public chat. * Calming down users if things are getting too heated without removing them from chat. * Getting links from users to post in chat/give to the streamer as most of streamers keep links disabled in chat. * Contacting users if they are breaking rules or to warn them about future bans/timeouts for the behavior they are continuing. * Useful and fast way to get private messages to your streamer when something needs to be done/said. * A fast and easy way to chat with your fellow moderators to discuss anything. Category:Pages